Thank you so much for all the beautiful birthday wishes from my family, friends, and students from Lithuania and the UK to Mauritius and Russia, and Canada, of course. You made my day very special 💕
Since birthdays naturally bring up the topic of age, here is a lovely Russian birthday phrase:
Сколько лет тебе исполнилось? It means “How old did you turn?” In Russian, this is a natural way to ask someone’s age on or around their birthday. The same pattern can also be used with months or weeks, especially when talking about babies and small children.
In Russian culture, age can be a sensitive topic, especially when speaking to women, so this question is used more carefully than in some other languages. With close friends, family, or children, it is completely natural, but in more formal or unfamiliar situations people often avoid asking directly.
This small phrase also reflects something interesting about Russian: it often expresses ideas in a more direct, structured way that feels slightly different from English, especially in everyday speech.